The next two vowel sounds are // as
in 'but' and // as in 'ear' These two
sounds are different in that the first
one is very very short.
// as in but. Notice the shape of my
mouth //
The position is very relaxed and neutral.
Not wide, not open, not rounded, just
neutral.// as in but. On the other hand
// is two vowels push together. We call
this a diphthong. Two vowels squeezed
together like we've seen before,
// It starts with the mouth wide and
ends with the mouth in a relaxed
position. // //as in ear so it's the same
sound as the word ear. Notice that also
ear, the word ear E-A-R ends in an 'r'
sound and this is another vowel which we
use in British English to replace the 'r'
sound. In American English, this ear would be pronounced 'ear'. They pronounce the 'r'
at the end but as I mentioned in some
previous lectures, when the 'r' sound comes
at the end of a word in British English
we don't pronounce it. We replace it with
a vowel sound. So // and // These are
the two sounds. Let's look at the first
sound's target practice words. Remember // your mouth is in a neutral position and
it's very very short. Let's look at the words and repeat
them after me. But. Shut. Money. Touch.
Wonderful. Brother.
Hungry. Understand. London. Very very
good. Now the second vowel sound //
Remember it sounds just like the word
ear. It's two vowels squeezed together.
// The mouth starts wide and ends in a
neutral position. // // Let's look at the target
sound practice words for this sound. Listen and repeat after me.
Ear. Year. Beard.
Cheering. Idea. Nearly. Disappear.
Shakespeare. Beer. The difference
between these two sounds is quite clear.
We have a short one and another one
which is two vowels pushed together. Now
let's look at the minimal pairs. Even
though the difference is quite easy to
distinguish, the minimal pairs will
further help you to practice and master
these two vowel sounds. On the left we
have the words containing // and on the
right we have the words containing // Let's start. Listen to the pairs and
repeat after me. Does, dears. Worry, weary. Bud,
beard. Fuss, fierce. Stud, steered. Buzz,
beers. Well done.
Now let's move on to the last section of
this lecture, the target sounds in use.
The first sentence contains the sounds
// in many of the words. So listen to the
sentence and repeat it after me focusing
on the target sounds. I had just enough
money for the bus. Sentence two we're
focusing on the sound //
Listen again and repeat. We're going
to buy some beer and say cheers.
And sentence number three a mixture
of the two sounds. This year has been
really fun but one thing I haven't done
yet is visit Nigeria.
Fantastic, well done. Now, as always, grab the extra resources that I provided for you
to master these two vowel sounds.
See you in the next lecture which is the last lecture for the section on vowels.